Rafa Zafra closes the restaurant Per Feina: "we billed daily the same as one table at L'Estimar"

The chef Rafa Zafra, from Seville and adopted Barcelonian, has a pile of successful restaurants. But a few weeks ago he had to close the restaurant with his most popular cuisine located on Via Augusta in Barcelona. "For work, it has been the most exciting project of my life. My mother used to punish me by sending me with my father in the truck. I didn't know that deep down I loved it. The truck bounced and then we stopped to eat a menu of those with three starters and three main courses. And I was the happiest child. As an adult, I wanted to do the same but updated," explains the chef on the day he presents another popular project: the Masia Tibidabo restaurant, atop the amusement park. The venue first opened in Poblenou, on Ciutat de Granada street, but at the end of August last year it was decided to move it to the upper part of town because it had a lot of difficulty making nights profitable. In the new location, the restaurant gained a surname "For work / For pleasure". In this case, in addition to an economic menu, it was also possible to have a more substantial meal. Even so, it has not been enough to keep a business afloat. "I wanted to keep the prices low. And the restaurant was working. We had two hundred people every day, but we billed 4,000 euros. And that's a table at Estimar. Or at Jondal [the restaurant Rafa Zafra has in Ibiza], let alone. We have a whole team working and running for this," explains the chef.

The option of raising prices was not on the table. "Because we would have had to double them and it would have distorted the concept. We started at 18 euros. A daily menu requires two chefs to make it. The margin did not compensate. In the end, you have to look at the sacrifice, effort and work and the profit you get from it," he says. Nevertheless, he cannot help but feel a pang of disappointment, although he assures that the story ended well. "It was my little darling and it didn't give us problems. That's why I kept it for a while, it lasted three years. But that's it. I was able to bring the whole team to Masia Tibidabo. Everyone happy, all suppliers paid. Happy and we are not suffering. You have to know how to close projects," states Zafra.

Nevertheless, the chef still has a pile of ideas in the works. One in Saint-Tropez, and also a Jondal in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The Jondal model in Ibiza works very well for him. According to Zafra, it serves 400 covers a day. The chef has the Estimar seafood restaurants in Barcelona, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, and Amar within the Palace hotel. In addition, he also has them in Madrid, such as his famous biquineria